Meeting the Obamas

So Michelle's last couple blog posts makes it hard for me to want to write a cheerful brag-about-my-recent-trip blog! I promise I am not insensitive and that I am asking the work gods daily to send her middle eastern related work ASAP knowing that she is quite talented in her field so WILL get a job with time but...I am way behind and I think it's time for me to blog about my little adventure that snuck into my quite uneventful life to assure people I'm not 100% lame. :)

So anyways...last fall semester my Graduate advisor told me about a conference being held in DC called Experimental Biology where all the scientists of the world get together to attend classes and present their research. He said I could present my graduate project there if I would just submit an abstract. Trip #2 to DC where I'd have the opportunity to experience presenting and also tour the city paid by BYU? Um yes please. So I sent it in with his help and got accepted to present in April! Fast forward several months later to when I'm working at my job at IMC, I realize, I need to plan for my big trip in DC! My professor would be there and a guy in my lab who was, and continues to be, a huge help with my project was coming as well to present with me. As much as I love hanging out with a couple of married men, I decided to invite my mama to come with me to enhance the DC experience. She has been wanting to go back to DC and is fun to go on trips with so she got the elite invite. I was glad to hear she was in and we got busy planning what we'd do in the big city before my conference started.

I met my mom at the hotel as soon as the rest of the crew from Salt Lake arrived and immediately noticed the painful looking hobble. You see, my mom broke her kneecaps a couple months previous to this trip and she assured me that she was recovering well and she'd be ready to tour but this did not appear to be the case when I saw her! My poor mom developed some probable inflammation in one knee post recovery so was in quite a bit of pain the whole trip but was a trooper and didn't complain, walking all over DC despite the pain. I was impressed. Plus I got benefits being with the handicap lady. ;) There was the occasional small miracle of the motor scooter at a museum called, The Newseum of which I took my turn in and which we of course got videos of, hehe, and the carts to take us from here to there which couldn't make my mom (and the crippled's accompanying tourist) any happier. See for yourself:

Riding in the cart after our capitol tour

Naturally I jumped in, to support my mother of course:)

So as I went to write about our adventures I realized there would just be too much to write about if I were to include details on every adventure and the funny moments between my mom and I so I think I'll just list off a few of the cool things we saw and favorite moments from the trip accompanied with some lovely pics:


Cherry Blossom Parade

Unfortunately the parade ended early due to a float that caught on fire, turns out this was not simply a cool looking float as I had interpreted it to be from miles away...

Beautiful Cherry blossom tree, one of the few remaining post nasty extended winter weather

Post Office

Our pictures didn't really turn out but just know that this is an excellent place to go to without having to wait in line to see out over the city. Amazing. (Plus, it's warm up there. My favorite spot on this chilly day:) )


Duck Tour

Me standing next to our ConDUCKtor for our tour of DC.

Our ConDUCKtor gave us duck whistles and even let the kids (plus me and mom) drive the boat on the Potomac River, Mom is having so much fun with her little whistle driving us around! ;)

Dehydration at Ruby Tuesdays

One day we had forgotten to bring water and barely drank anything by the time we got to dinner at the restaurant and I got to witness a true symptom of dehydration when my mom frustrated with the truly ridiculous length of time it took for our waiter to get our drinks to us stood up and informed the busser behind that our waiter needed to bring us our drinks, now. :) Much abbreviated story and you had to be there but it was one of our (or maybe just my) favorite moments on the trip to look back on and laugh.


Relaxing/resting at nights to watch our favorite tv shows

Not a flattering picture I know but I found this on my mom's camera and I thought it depicted what our evenings in DC after a long day of conferences and touring were like - relaxing to our favorite tv shows and playing family feud of course :)

Metro/transportation adventures
My mom should be on Amazing Race, seriously though. She is good at getting around in new big cities/countries on her own and isn't afraid to ask questions. By the end we were pros at working the metro and getting to where we needed to go!


White House Gardens Tour
Probably one of our favorite things we did, it was so beautiful and cool to be so close to where our President and other high ranking officials were!

My mom standing in front of the back side of the White House where the band so kindly played for us while interrupting the Obama's Sunday afternoon naps. :)

Artsy pic no?

We love this picture because it includes the guy on top of the white house roof who was taking pictures of us tourists and guarding the big deal people inside. For some reason it was so funny to us, again probably had to be there. Next time we'll have to bring sunglasses, clearly we were having some issues!

We used to take yearly Easter pictures so we decided this would be mine.

Newseum and American History Museum

At the Newseum doing my broadcast of a Wizards game. I felt so silly but it was kind of cool to pretend to be a big deal reporter. My mom did it too but I had left to go to the conference so missed it! Good thing we have our very own copy to download and cherish forever.

I think this was at some Postal Service Museum. We just thought this sign was funny cuz it said something about Mary and her Mother. Aw...how cute. haha

What I expect to be presented with by the time I'm proposed to. :) (The Hope Diamond)

Julia Child's kitchen!

100% approval rating for this charismatic President!

This one looks like she's picking her nose.

Piece of the Berlin Wall at the Newseum. I love this picture, makes me laugh everytime. hehe

Capitol Tour

Every state had a statue of a leader that represented their state located in the Capitol - way to represent, Mr. Brigham Young!

Picture taken after being dropped off by our cart in front of the capitol - it was finally a beautiful sunny, warm day in the city!

Washington Monument in the background - yes I am aware, I always do this pose.

My mom went to stand back to take a pic of me and ended up in this school class's group picture, I was cracking up at the thought of her actually ending up in their picture! (She actually was in the back row standing right next to them originally but when she went back for me to capture the moment she stood a little further away as they were actually taking the picture at that point, haha.)

Mount Vernon
George Washington's home and land. This was my favorite place that we visited in DC. So much history and beautiful land that he owned that I could've spent all day there.

View that the Washington's had from their backyard. It was quite windy that day needless to say - do you like new hairdo I'm sporting? :)

My mom in front of the back side of the Mansion

Me in front of the front side of the Mansion

Presentation at Experimental Biology

Me displaying my poster with information on my graduate project at the conference, very interesting experience to say the least but cool one for sure. I think I'm one step closer to being part of the nerdy scientist club. :)

That's my trip in a nutshell. Sorry that was so long, hopefully the picture storybook version helped a little. Jealous yet? Well you should be. :) Next trip to plan - cruise to the Caribbean! Let the countdown begin...